Larry C. answered • 07/08/19
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It is the capability of sorting a file as part of the overall program execution. As it allows other processing both before and after the sort, it avoids the alternative - one program to preprocess the file, then an external sort utility and then another program for postprocessing. That said, the internal sort is not particularly efficient compared to some standalone sort utilities. so if the file is large and runtime is an issue, using the internal sort might not be the way to go.
